Today is the 100th anniversary of the founding of Girl Scouts in the United States. Juliette “Daisy” Gordon Low founded Girl Scouts in Savannah, Georgia in 1912 to give girls the opportunity to enjoy the outdoors, play sports, and help their communities. She was not a feminist, but thought that girls of every race, religion, and ability should have opportunities to develop self-reliance and resourcefulness. One hundred years later, Girl Scouting still “builds girls of courage, confidence, and character, who make the world a better place.”
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Forever Green
Being a Girl Scout is nearly as fundamental to who I’ve become as who my parents are, where I grew up, and what our socio-economic status was. Girl Scouting provided experiences and opportunities that my family and formal education weren’t able to provide.
I want to tell you how much Girl Scouting means to me, how my experiences as a Girl Scout from first grade through high school shaped the woman I am today. I want you to feel moved by my tribute to this organization that I’m still proud to be a part of. But I am limited by my capabilities as a writer and my inability to unravel all the aspects of my person and attribute them to their sources.
I know (because I’ve tried many times) that I won’t be able to inspire the level of feeling from you that I would like. But on my honor, I will try to give you some understanding of the fundamental ways the organization shaped my life.
Confidence & Self-Esteem
In this fast-paced, technology-driven society, why do Girl Scouts even bother with camping anymore? Sure, there’s a lot about conservation and a love of nature (more on that later), but the real value of camping for me and my fellow city-dwellers was acquiring new skills, “surviving” in a foreign environment, and successfully dealing with unexpected challenges.
True self-esteem does not come from your parents constantly telling you you’re wonderful for no reason or from your coach giving you a participation medal. It comes from seeing yourself as a capable person.
Girl Scouts is big on progressively building skills so girls are prepared to face new challenges. To prepare for camping we had to learn to use a knife, build a fire, pitch a tent, and tie knots. When you’re new to camping, it feels pretty good to be dry in your tent during a rain storm or eat California Egg Crackle that you cooked yourself over a wood fire or have your dunk line withstand the weight of a dozen mess kits.
But what if you pitch your tent in the dark on top of an ant hill or animals sneak into your trash bag over night or the fire starters get wet? Even better! Being resourceful and overcoming adversity are great ways to build confidence….and lasting memories.
Leadership
A few years ago, I attended a lunch where the CEO of Girl Scouts talked about their recently completed research on leadership. The organization came to realize that its value proposition was leadership training for girls, that Girl Scouts should leverage its legacy as the “premier leadership experience for girls.” When I heard this, it wasn’t so much an “ah ha” moment as it was a “duh” moment. Until she said that, I hadn’t given it much thought (and apparently, I wasn’t the only one), but what Girl Scouts provided me that no other experience could have, was the opportunity to discover and develop my leadership skills.
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Wearing my Junior uniform for the first time
I wasn’t a particularly outgoing child, but through scouting I was able to explore leadership in a safe and supportive environment. When I was a fourth grader I was elected “patrol leader” for the first time. To be chosen by my peers—many of them older than me—to lead a team was an amazing feeling. They recognized something in me that I had yet to see in myself.
Girl Scouts afforded me the opportunity to practice leadership again and again after that first small group in my Junior troop. At 14, I led a small group of girls to independently plan and execute every aspect of a Brownie Fun Day for 50 girls. The summer I turned 16 I was a Counselor-in-Training at camp. There are countless other formal and informal examples of how Girl Scouting helped me develop leadership skills.
Conservation
One of the Girl Scout Laws (my favorite) is “use resources wisely.” Scouting has a strong history of developing an appreciation for nature and the outdoors and of teaching girls that it is their responsibility to be stewards of our natural resources. I directly attribute valuing eco-friendly living to my years as a scout.
Being green is in vogue again, but when I was a girl, my only exposure to those ideas were water conservation programs in school (San Diego is a desert after all), and the crying Indian and Woodsy Owl commercials on TV. Outdoor adventures gave me an appreciation of the beauty of the natural world and taught me about humanity’s impact on it.
We were taught trail etiquette, left places cleaner than we found them, and repurposed countless things for crafts and camping gear. We might use paper plates and plastic forks at home, but that stuff was not allowed on Girl Scout outings! We earned “Alternate Transportation” patches, planted trees, and recycled aluminum cans to raise money for environmental causes.
Service
Community service is a founding principle of Girl Scouts, one that continues to be a strong programmatic emphasis today. For most girls, every adult they encounter during their Girl Scout careers will be volunteers. The girls see a commitment to volunteerism exemplified by their troop leaders, cookie moms, and day camp counselors.
Many of the badges and patches we worked on had service components, and Girl Scouts has a number of awards specifically related to service, including the Gold Award, the highest achievement in Girl Scouting (like the Boy Scouts’ Eagle Scout). Whether it was a beach clean-up, caroling at senior homes, mentoring younger scouts, or making quilts for women’s shelters, the message was loud and clear. There were things to be done and people to be helped, and it was my duty and my honor to do what I could to make a difference. And I still believe that today.
I could go on about the friendships I made, the places I traveled, the memories of a lifetime. It’s hard for me to imagine who I would be today if I hadn’t been a Girl Scout for nearly my entire childhood. Someone I’m sure I wouldn’t recognize.
Were you a Girl Scout? How did it impact your life?
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